The Development of English Economic Vocabulary to 1776: the Formation of a Disciplinary Language. The language of economic science is fundamental to all social theory - and indeed, to how modern societies perceive themselves. Where does that vocabulary - both the language and the concepts carried by that language - come from? How did it develop? The aim of this research project is to clarify the answers to these two questions, up to the time at which political economy or economics became a matur ....The Development of English Economic Vocabulary to 1776: the Formation of a Disciplinary Language. The language of economic science is fundamental to all social theory - and indeed, to how modern societies perceive themselves. Where does that vocabulary - both the language and the concepts carried by that language - come from? How did it develop? The aim of this research project is to clarify the answers to these two questions, up to the time at which political economy or economics became a mature intellectual system - in Adam Smith's 1776 "Wealth of Nations". This will be the first such systematic and comprehensive book-length study of the formation of this disciplinary language ever attempted.Read moreRead less
Heterogeneity, Wage Inequality, Unemployment, and Economic Growth. This project would provide the first internally consistent theory of wage inequality, unemployment and economic growth - and the roles that government policy variables play in determining them. It would use and extend frontier developments in theory, and identify the settings of policy variables (unemployment insurance, tax structures, education policies) that maximise social welfare, given that governments must satisfy their bud ....Heterogeneity, Wage Inequality, Unemployment, and Economic Growth. This project would provide the first internally consistent theory of wage inequality, unemployment and economic growth - and the roles that government policy variables play in determining them. It would use and extend frontier developments in theory, and identify the settings of policy variables (unemployment insurance, tax structures, education policies) that maximise social welfare, given that governments must satisfy their budget constraints. It also aims to uncover the relationship between the innate abilities of workers and their education choices - and the consequences for macro economies and public policy.Read moreRead less
Investigating imprecision in preferences and its possible consequences for economics and economic choices. When people's preferences are not clear, their choices become variable and susceptible to theoretically irrelevant influences. Examples can be found in surveys of preferences intended to inform public policy in areas such as health, safety and the environment. Understanding the nature of imprecision in people's values and choices is also likely to be crucial for consumers' ability to advan ....Investigating imprecision in preferences and its possible consequences for economics and economic choices. When people's preferences are not clear, their choices become variable and susceptible to theoretically irrelevant influences. Examples can be found in surveys of preferences intended to inform public policy in areas such as health, safety and the environment. Understanding the nature of imprecision in people's values and choices is also likely to be crucial for consumers' ability to advance their interests in our complex, choice-filled society. We plan to draw out some of the implications of our experimental work on preference imprecision for consumer behaviour and existing business practices, including the regulation of fair trading.Read moreRead less
Choice and Classification in complex and adversarial environments. Any policy must take account of individuals' incentives to strategically manipulate. Mechanism Design is an area of economic theory that addresses precisely this. In its theoretical development however, it overlooks practical constraints for monitoring behavior. For instance, for fraud detection and credit scoring, automated statistical machine learning models discussed in computer science (CS) are used. Here, we constrain ....Choice and Classification in complex and adversarial environments. Any policy must take account of individuals' incentives to strategically manipulate. Mechanism Design is an area of economic theory that addresses precisely this. In its theoretical development however, it overlooks practical constraints for monitoring behavior. For instance, for fraud detection and credit scoring, automated statistical machine learning models discussed in computer science (CS) are used. Here, we constrain monitoring strategies to be such algorithms and address the monitoring of a population of individuals or a similarly constrained large adversary. Notable cross disciplinary implications exist forRead moreRead less
Strategic Thought and Prediction in Strategic Environments. Game theory is now an integral tool for economics and business. It helps predict behavior in strategic environments and thus answers important questions: What form of auction to use in the pending sale of 3G spectrum? How should the government sell its bonds? How to detect implict collusion among companies? What division of benefits of joint research ventures will attract maximum participation?
This project aims to greatly increas ....Strategic Thought and Prediction in Strategic Environments. Game theory is now an integral tool for economics and business. It helps predict behavior in strategic environments and thus answers important questions: What form of auction to use in the pending sale of 3G spectrum? How should the government sell its bonds? How to detect implict collusion among companies? What division of benefits of joint research ventures will attract maximum participation?
This project aims to greatly increase the predictive power of game theory and provide decisive answers to questions such as above. This is achieved by developing a theory that relates individuals' current behavior to their experiences in analogous environments in the past.
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Linear and non-linear Price Decentralization. General equilibrium theory provides the conceptual foundation for our understanding of efficiency and welfare economics. However, at present it does not provide for an adequate understanding in many seetings: for instance, in the case of incomplete financial markets and markets with imperfect information. This project is part of the ongoing and broad research program in the Economic Theory Center of The University of Melbourne on general equilibriu ....Linear and non-linear Price Decentralization. General equilibrium theory provides the conceptual foundation for our understanding of efficiency and welfare economics. However, at present it does not provide for an adequate understanding in many seetings: for instance, in the case of incomplete financial markets and markets with imperfect information. This project is part of the ongoing and broad research program in the Economic Theory Center of The University of Melbourne on general equilibrium theory and mathematical economics. It seeks to extend the classical theory of price decentralization and rectify some of the defects of modern general equilibrium theory.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101183
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,404.00
Summary
Information sharing in networks and the allocation of medical appointments. The project aims to research social networks and the normative allocation of invisible goods. It will study information sharing in social networks and the allocation of consultant led appointments to patients. This project is intended to benefit society, public policy and health by showing how social networks’ design options affect users’ welfare and the network owner’s revenue.
Risk and Australian public policy. This project will develop fundamentally new approaches to the theory of risk and uncertainty and their role in the design and management of complex projects and policy initiatives. The results will be applied to the central economic policy choices facing Australia; those connected with globalisation and microeconomic reform. This project will show how the latest advances in economic theory can help to illuminate the major issues in the Australian public debate, ....Risk and Australian public policy. This project will develop fundamentally new approaches to the theory of risk and uncertainty and their role in the design and management of complex projects and policy initiatives. The results will be applied to the central economic policy choices facing Australia; those connected with globalisation and microeconomic reform. This project will show how the latest advances in economic theory can help to illuminate the major issues in the Australian public debate, from the role of government and the market to the assessment of standards of living. The project will also help to bridge the gap between economics and other social sciences.Read moreRead less
The Allocation of Risk and Economic Slumps. The aim of this project is to construct and analyse models that identify a novel feedback mechanism in which the distribution of investment risk interacts with aggregate employment variations. It will provide a useable framework for economic policy analysis in which the distribution of wealth affects the demand for investment risk while the distribution of production risk affects the supply of labour income risk.
Theoretically-motivated Long-term Internet Network Adoption Based on Short Time-series: Understanding the Diffusion of an Enabling Network Technology. A recent Government policy concerns innovation as a driver of long-term industry growth and a major determinant of global competitiveness. In particular, the Internet is a ?backbone? infrastructure for the conduct e-commerce, and enables efficiency benefits and product innovations to be realized in other sectors, e.g., banking, finance, health and ....Theoretically-motivated Long-term Internet Network Adoption Based on Short Time-series: Understanding the Diffusion of an Enabling Network Technology. A recent Government policy concerns innovation as a driver of long-term industry growth and a major determinant of global competitiveness. In particular, the Internet is a ?backbone? infrastructure for the conduct e-commerce, and enables efficiency benefits and product innovations to be realized in other sectors, e.g., banking, finance, health and tourism. This study estimates the network effect critical to forecasting Internet growth. Moreover, a structural model enhances understanding of underlying Internet dynamics and impacts on general economic conditions. Importantly, methods developed here apply to any network industry, and many non-network industries characterised by strong complementarity relations.Read moreRead less